“There is a day in February when the sun is warm and snow melts a little and you can open the windows and air the house as long as you remember to close them again when it gets dark. It is a reprieve for people in places like this. A short reminder that the season will not last forever. And in March when the rest of the country is shaking off the cold for good and you still can’t see over the snow banks to the sidewalk, you remember that day in February when you opened the windows and aired the house and you are strengthened for the duration.”

In the overcrowded world of up-and-coming Newfoundland authors, Safer hasn’t received as much recognition as she deserves for Bishop’s Road, but anyone who lives here should recognize that that paragraph alone is worth a literary prize.

But when I accepted that I was in a world where miracles, reincarnation, and magic can happen just off Water Street, I found myself enjoying the ride, and caring about the fate of the wonderfully eccentric characters with which Safer has peopled the house on Bishop’s Road.